IEA Sees Bigger Oil Supply Gap as Gulf Recovery Slips into 2027

Global oil supply and demand will fall further than previously thought this year, the International Energy Agency said on Friday, as a lack of progress in ending the Iran war delays the return of normal Middle East flows into 2027 and sends fuel prices soaring.

"Inventories have so far played a crucial role in balancing the market," the IEA, which advises industrialized countries, said in a monthly report.

"With buffers shrinking and the global refining system stretched to the limit, the need for progress in resolving the conflict in the Middle East – and the Russia-Ukraine war, which is now in its fifth year – is greater than ever to avoid further market tightening."

(Reuters - Reporting by Alex Lawler, editing by Tomasz Janowski)